NATO General Pavel says Ukraine is the key to Euro-Atlantic security

Over the past four years, Ukraine has implemented part of reforms making a step toward joining NATO.

Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, General Petr Pavel said in an interview with DW, Censor.NET reports.

Asked what are the main problems the Ukrainian Armed Forces are currently facing he said that he was not authorized to comment on the internal decisions of the partners noting however that Ukraine has already implemented impressive defense reforms and became much closer to NATO but there is still work to be done.

According to him Ukraine’s stability is one of the main goals of these reforms. Pavel says that NATO and its individual members will continue to support Ukraine because they strongly believe that independent and stable Ukraine devoted to democracy and the rule of law is the key to the Euro-Atlantic security.

He explained his point by the fact that security and stability often overlap with each other. According to him, if a country is safe and stable it has a positive impact on neighboring states and entire region.

Asked by DW whether it is realistic for Ukraine to make its army interoperable with the NATO forces by 2020, Pavel only said that Ukrainian Armed Forces are increasing their interoperability by taking part in the exercises and missions of the Alliance, for example, in Afghanistan.

Since 2014, the North Atlantic Alliance has boosted assistance to Ukraine in terms of reforming. In 2017, NATO held more than 200 measures aimed at support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the official told DW. According to him, the most significant and tangible improvements were made in soldiers’ training, military medicine, logistics, development of naval forces, special operations forces and air assault troops of Ukraine. Pavel said NATO has created ten trust funds for Ukraine over more than three years while its members made a commitment to grant Ukraine 40 million euros through these funds.

On the morning of March 9, Ukraine was added to the list of countries seeking accession into NATO available on the organization’s website. The list initially included Georgia, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the same time, the statement that Ukraine formally ceased seeking NATO membership since 2010 was removed from the website. Obviously, NATO in such a manner recognized Ukraine's aspiration to become a full-fledged member of the Alliance and granted it the relevant status.

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